Tag: live shows

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GUIDED BY VOICES at Ferris Wheelers, Dallas, TX, 10/26/2024

I was not in Chicago on December 31, 2004 for what was once intended to be the final Guided by Voices live show. However, I was in Dallas on October 26, 2024 for what might REALLY be the final show.

That’s not official information. In fact, Robert Pollard didn’t say a thing about it on stage and he was mouthing off all night. He joked with affection about his hometown, offered advice to fledgling Guided by Voices cover bands, and did plenty of well-earned chest-beating (with a smirk) about the greatness of his songs. Pollard’s got the comic timing of a seasoned shit-talker and I laughed more this night than I’ve laughed at some comedy shows.

The word around the jungle gym though is that Pollard, who turns 67 on October 31, will no longer tour. He’s been saying this to people. The 2024 tour, which was mostly a lot of scattered weekends, is the last one and Dallas was the last date. Guided by Voices will continue as a recording act (you won’t be shocked to learn that they have new album finished and set for release in 2025), but their days of hitting the highway are done.

I took ONE photo of the band and it’s pretty bad. Sorry.

Everyone I spoke to as we milled about before the noise started knew about it and had something to say and none of us were sure of what to think. Pollard’s family was there, I heard. This was a heavy night even if nothing on the surface of it told you that. The show wasn’t even sold out. To the casual observer, this was just a rock band on a Saturday night plugging in, turning up the knobs, and doing their thing.

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Guided by Voices – Live at The Brightside, Dayton, Ohio 2020 (Also, on the Internet)

Some of my very best live show photography.

I enjoy writing my Robert Pollard-Mania! series, but due to its chronological nature, I’m always rummaging through Pollard’s past and I don’t get much chance to talk about his fascinating present. Right now, my modest li’l project is up to the year 2000. Yep, I’m here gabbin’ about twenty years ago while Pollard and maybe the most powerful line-up of Guided by Voices ever is putting out epic masterworks such as Zeppelin Over China, hyperactive tornados of song such as Warp and Woof and juicy cuts of Midwestern psych such as Surrender Your Poppy Field right NOW.

So let’s talk about the present for once, goddammit. This killer live show sent out to the internet in the Age of The Pandemic is a perfect excuse.

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GUIDED BY VOICES at Trees, Dallas, TX, 6/19/18

Shitty IPhone pic, courtesy of yours truly.

I swore off live music years ago. I don’t like crowds. I don’t like the concrete litter box vibe of most rock clubs. I don’t like having to shout over jet engine-levels of noise when I want to order another Tanqueray and tonic from the bar. I don’t like waiting in line to piss. And I don’t like paying $50-100 for it, when all is said and done, between admission, drinks and parking fees or a Lyft ride.

Also, as a world class eavesdropper (seriously, I love to eavesdrop; I’m all up in everybody’s business), rock clubs are the worst places to do it. Almost every conversation you hear is just people talking about the bands they’ve seen. Or it’s some guy trying to get into some girl’s pants… by talking about the bands that he’s seen. BOR-ING.

In another life, rock clubs were the coolest places in the world to me. Today, in my delicate years, I’ve completely turned around. Now, the coolest place in the world is my couch with a book in my hands or a movie on TV.

I’m not agoraphobic, by the way. I’m just an asshole.

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